Troy Deeney: Jose Mourinho gave me direct advice after I beat Manchester United, then nearly signed me at Tottenham

Troy Deeney once received a foul-mouthed piece of advice from Jose Mourinho after beating his Manchester United side.

The former Watford striker had been on the scoresheet in a Premier League triumph at Vicarage Road.

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Mourinho’s side were beaten 3-1 back in September 2016 as he suffered a third successive for the first time in 14 years.

The Red Devils side that day featured the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney and Paul Pogba.

However, they were unable to see off the Hornets, with Deeney scoring a stoppage time penalty to cap off their victory.

It was one of four goals he scored in ten meetings with United for Watford.

Deeney only scored more Premier League goals against Aston Villa (six) and Bournemouth (five) during his career.

Mourinho advice

His performance was also enough to impress Mourinho, who spoke to him in a chance encounter after the full-time whistle.

Speaking to talkSPORT.com in 2024, Deeney recalled: “He’s a legend because he’s straight talking as well, whenever I’ve encountered him.

“My first encounter with Jose, we beat Man United at Vicarage Road. 3-1, we beat them. And I scored.

“I remember I went up to the family bit, I had some friends there and said hello.

“Then I was coming back down the stairs to go across to my family in my box. He was on the phone on the stairs, and I just stood waiting.

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“I didn’t want to interrupt him or ask him to move. And then he clocked me, said to whoever on the phone to give him a second or whatever, he’s speaking Portuguese.

“He said to me, ‘You okay?’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I just wanted to get past, I didn’t want to interrupt you’.

“And he said, ‘You just beat us 3-1, you can do whatever the f*** you want’.

“I was like, ‘Oh cool’. Then we just laughed and joked, but he told me, you played well, good luck for the future. And I said the same.

“That was when United had Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney up front. It was proper.

“With Marcus [Rashford] on the left, [Marouane] Fellaini and Pogba in the middle. It was a proper outfit.”

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Deeney to Spurs

Following the win over Mourinho’s United, Deeney came close to playing under him several years later.

Having been sacked by the Red Devils in December 2018, he returned to England 11 months later as Tottenham Hotspur manager.

During the following summer transfer window in 2020, Mourinho was keen to sign a centre forward to serve as back-up to Harry Kane.

Although his priority target was then Benfica striker Carlos Vinicius, a move for Deeney was also considered, he revealed.

Recalling Mourinho’s interest, he added: “Vinicius was their main one, and it got to a point that if that didn’t happen, then we’ll bring Troy in.

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“I had a chat with Mourinho, and it was like, what do you want to do? How do you want to do it?

“I remember it was a quick turnaround as well, from the COVID season ending in July, and then we played again in September.

“So, it was more like, would you be able to go from being a main man to one of the squad? Because I was the main man at Watford, and I was captain. And my conversation was like, ‘Look, if I get the opportunity to play, then I’ll play’.

“Because I was trying to think, remember the big Spanish striker that went there from Swansea [Fernando Llorente]. He kept scoring, didn’t he? Every time, League Cup and all that.

“And I was thinking, if I can do that, my job’s good. I said, all I’m going to do is push Harry to be the best version that he can, and be his biggest cheerleader. Playing for Spurs is massively beyond my dreams.

“He said, OK, if we can’t get this done, then we’ll get that one done. Because obviously Vinicius was younger, age profile…

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“I understood it, and he was straight with me, which was easy. And then, unfortunately for me, they got the Vinicius deal done.”

Spurs would go on to sign Vinicius on loan, whilst Deeney scored seven goals in 19 matches to fire Watford to promotion back to the Premier League.